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06 September 2011

Deck The Walls

I got a project done this week - woo hoo! And it wasn't laundry, cooking, cleaning, or lunch-packing related (although I do all that too).

Today was an icky NL day, and the Little needed some entertainment. So I busted out my creativity hat, and here's what I got:

We have spray on stucco-type stuff on our walls. And boy oh boy is it textured. I've drawn blood scraping my hand against it. It is no fun to paint, and nothing sticks to it. Oh, and it's also concrete underneath, so no nails either. Never mind the fact that it belongs to our landlord, although that has never stopped me in the past from painting walls or hanging pictures.

When we first moved in, all of the walls were a dingy white. The first thing we did was paint the Little's room, because, well, her walls were the worst. And she's a girl. But the spray on stucco stuff made it very difficult to get an even coat, and it bothers me. But I sure didn't want to paint again. Not until I have to paint it white when we move out, anyway.

So, I hung fabric. It is super easy. And let me tell you, if I say it's super easy, you can rest assured that most anyone with a pulse can pull this off. After all, the 2-year-old was even getting the hang of it.

Here's what you need: cutie fabric, water, starch, a towel

You can either choose fabric that has printed shapes to cut out (like the animal faces), or you can just use a print you like and make your own shapes (like the K and the clouds). I have used spray starch in the past, but today I used corn starch from a box and water. If you use spray starch, you don't need water, but it's a little more of a pain to spray enough at a time.

Here's what you do:

1. cut out fabric shapes

2. spray starch onto fabric piece or dip into starch/water solution

3. squeeze some out

4. flatten onto wall

5. dab with towel if needed

That's it! This project took under an hour with the Little "helping." It makes a bit of a mess on the wall or floor, depending on your helpers, but it's very easy to wipe up. Once dry, the fabric can be easily removed and leaves no glue or residue. It can be wetted with the solution and rehung if desired. The animal faces were left over from the Bigs' room a couple years ago. They've moved on to more mature toys (read: legos, Star Wars, and fast cars), so the animals were bequeathed to the Little.

I plan to make a farm scene on the wall with the clouds, and maybe a wild animal area/savanna on the wall with the giraffes.

But that's going to require more creativity and time than I had today, so it will have to wait.